Chapter 103
I woke up to find that I had become a tycoon with ten thousand coins... no, ten thousand gold coins in assets.
Of course, I hadn't really become that way overnight; various things had come in and led to this, but still.
“Just how much could it be...? Could you show me, perhaps?”
“Here.”
When I casually held out the note, Head Raymond flinched.
“No, I only said that offhand... Why would you actually show me just because I asked?”
“What’s the harm? It’s not as though you’d ask me to lend you money, Head.”
“Well, that’s true, but... Even so, you shouldn’t casually show other people your assets. Enough—let’s have a look.”
Head Raymond clicked his tongue as he checked the numbers on the note.
“I had a rough idea from the moment we were shown to the VIP room... but even taking that into account, that’s an astonishing amount.”
Declaring that even an archmage’s fortune was no sum a kid in their mid-teens ought to have, Head Raymond clicked his tongue in amazement.
His reaction, however, wasn’t as dramatic as the branch manager’s.
As expected of Head Raymond, he was someone who tossed around ten thousand gold coins without a second thought.
“By the way, where in the world did you earn all this?”
“I’m curious about that myself.”
“The money from the auction house going to the Magic Tower would’ve amounted to only a thousand-and-some gold coins after payment and fees, and you haven’t even received your archmage stipend yet...”
“Oh, come to think of it, I heard from Head Liliana that you recently got a contract to supply magic tools to the imperial family or something.”
“Ahhh, a supply contract! Those can be surprisingly lucrative.”
Only then did Head Raymond slap his knee as if it all made sense.
“Are imperial supply contracts really that lucrative? Enough for thousands of gold coins to come pouring in?”
It also hadn’t even been a full two weeks since I’d properly begun supplying them, had it? I’d only completed the Apple Phone Mk. 2 well after summer vacation had started.
“Of course, not everything supplied to the imperial family makes money, but when they deem something highly practical, the imperial family doesn’t skimp on the expense.”
“Really?”
“Come to think of it, this is my first time seeing a magic engineer receive this much money. And isn’t this the magic tool you made during your major course? What was it called again? Apple Phone?”
“That’s right. A video communication device. More precisely, an upgraded version of it.”
“Then I can understand why that amount was recorded. The imperial family must have valued it highly, and since it’s an improved version, Student Lunaris must be pocketing the entire royalty payment herself.”
Head Raymond nodded, saying that airhead Liliana was surprisingly good at looking after her student’s interests.
Rather than feeling purely pleased... I felt a slight discomfort in one corner of my heart.
“I did receive quite a bit of help from Head Liliana and Senior Estelle in making this, so it feels a little wrong that I’m taking almost all the royalties myself.”
“Your money will keep piling up from here on out. No wonder you refused when I and the other nobles offered you personal sponsorship.”
Head Raymond added with a mischievous grin.
“You already have more money than you could possibly spend, so you don’t want to hear people whining about what they’re owed, is that it?”
“No. It’s more that I didn’t want to be tied down by sponsorships.”
I shrugged and continued.
“In the end, I’d have to pay it back several times over later.”
“I shouldn’t say this, but you could always just take the money and pretend it never happened.”
“I just don’t want to leave the door open at all. They’d obviously hand me a few gold coins now, then pester me later to do this or that, wouldn’t they?”
Head Raymond looked surprised by my answer.
He looked even more surprised than when he’d checked my account balance.
“...I thought you just refused because everything was too much trouble, but I see that wasn’t the whole story.”
“Well, it is also because it’s a hassle.”
“Haha, Student Lunaris, you really are something... Usually you seem as though you don’t think about anything at all, but when I see things like this, you’re actually remarkably thoughtful.”
Head Raymond gave a faint smile and nodded.
“I suppose that explains those entrance-exam scores, and why the heads of the Political Science and Economics Departments were eager to recruit you.”
I stared blankly once more at the numbers written on the note.
I knew full well that this was an enormous amount of money, but I couldn’t really feel it.
There was nothing I wanted to buy right away, nor anything I particularly wanted to eat.
If I had to name one thing, I did want to put the same model of bed as the one in Princess Celestina’s room in my own room.
But that was probably a special imperial edition, an item I couldn’t buy even if I had the money.
“I don’t know what to do with this. Should I just withdraw it all and build a vacation home on some island no one could possibly reach...?”
“Eek?!”
The branch manager, standing beside us, let out a shrill scream at my offhand mutter.
“M-Miss...? I really wouldn’t recommend withdrawing all the money in your account at once...”
“Why not? It’s my money. I can do whatever I want with it.”
“I-I didn’t mean that! I only meant that leaving it deposited would be much more profitable! VIP customers receive extra interest, so your money will make more money...”
The branch manager was on the verge of tears.
They seemed terribly desperate as they tried to stop me with a rambling, long-winded explanation.
When I frowned, wondering what the matter was, Head Raymond clicked his tongue and translated what the branch manager meant.
“As a matter of fact, I recently had to withdraw a lot of gold coins from this branch for some academy business. If Miss Lunaris withdraws hers as well, our available funds will be dangerously tight.”
“Ah, no wonder.”
No sooner had I nodded than the branch manager dropped their professional mask and began begging me to spare them.
Well, taking ten thousand gold coins out at once would be a hassle. How annoying.
“I’m not going to withdraw it. It’s not as if I have anywhere urgent to spend it right now.”
“Th-Thank you... Thank you, Miss Lunaris! I-If you wish, we could invest your assets in various places and grow them for you...!”
“Ah, no, that’s fine. It sounds like a hassle.”
What was the point of making even more money here?
Keeping track of it all would be incredibly stressful.
“Still, it would be a good idea to start managing it now.”
Head Raymond said this while resting his chin in his hand.
“If I’d had that much money at Miss Lunaris’s age, I would have invested it as aggressively as possible.”
He let out a sigh full of regret, saying that by now he would have become a wealthy man whose assets rivaled those of any kingdom.
“Ahh—how enviable. That youth, that wealth, and even that talent!”
“But what good is having lots of money? Other than going into some luxury shop like you, Head, and wasting money demanding everything in the catalog, there’s nothing you can do with it.”
“Hmm?”
“More importantly, aren’t there more things in this world that money can’t buy?”
Especially in a class-based society like this one.
A title of nobility wasn’t something you could purchase just because you had money.
At my cynical question, Head Raymond fiddled with his teacup.
“Indeed... Money can’t bring the dead back to life, nor can it turn someone without talent into an archmage or a swordmaster.”
Head Raymond continued in a calm, subdued voice.
“But in the end, it is money that saves those who are going to die, and money that allows a once-in-a-century genius to fully blossom.”
I had seen countless people die because they couldn’t scrape together a few coins for medicine, despite having illnesses that could have been cured.
I had also seen far too many people blessed with the love of spirits, yet able to use that talent only to make one extra fruit grow on a tree or one extra grain of wheat in some rural village.
Head Raymond’s expression as he said this seemed tinged with a vague bitterness.
“That’s true. You do provide a great deal of personal sponsorship, Head Raymond.”
The branch manager, who had been watching the mood from the side, seized the opportunity to interject flatteringly.
“Quite a number of academy students, in particular, have received separate living-expense scholarships.”
“Ahem! Well, it’s a hobby of mine. There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing those students grow up, enter society, and make my name known.”
Head Raymond shrugged, pride evident in his voice.
“Recently, a famous novelist even put my name right in the afterword. ‘I dedicate this book to Archmage Raymond Cloud, who eased my hunger during my school days.’”
“I hear that nine out of ten people who establish scholarship foundations do so to stash slush funds in them...”
“No, Student Lunaris, how could you possibly know that... Wait! I really do sponsor students out of pure intentions, you know?!”
“Solely to enhance Head Raymond’s reputation?”
“Of course! Oh-ho-ho-ho!”
Head Raymond really was nothing if not consistent.
Still, it was a relief. While the settings of the other characters seemed to be twisting little by little one after another, this person alone remained exactly as I knew him.
Come to think of it, a scholarship foundation...
“Sponsorship really doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, after all.”
Talent, and sponsorship.
This era, just transitioning from the Middle Ages into the modern age, still lacked so much.
But as it was modeled on the Industrial Revolution, it was also a time of tremendous potential and explosive growth.
There were an enormous number of people who could make their abilities bloom.
Until now, I’d tried to create a creator ecosystem by myself, using only the people around me.
Thinking about it, that had been absurd. At this rate, I could see no future for myself except one where I kept running around until the day I died.
So.
“Head, are there any restrictions on providing sponsorship?”
“Well... Not particularly, I suppose?”
“Would it be possible to sponsor someone anonymously?”
“It’s not impossible, but wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of sponsorship?”
“No. It would actually be less troublesome if it were anonymous. As long as my message can be delivered along with the sponsorship money, that’s all I need.”
I would become the benefactor—the sponsor—of hidden talents.
I could sponsor the seniors in the Magic Engineering Department, including Senior Estelle, and have them make modern-style magic tools.
I could sponsor talented playwrights, actors, and painters,
and have them produce novels, comics, and films to suit my tastes?
“Isn’t this the perfect automated farming system?”